Young Professional Neighborhood

What area of Houston would you recommend for a young professional to live? Want plenty of nearby restaurants and bars. Possibly trails and running areas. Easy to meet other singles in their late 20s and 30s. Want to find something within a 25 minute max drive to Willowbrook Mall in Northwest Houston. Thanks in advance!

I would live in the Midtown or Houston Heights areas of Houston. They are both pretty central and have tons of great bars, restaurants, and parks within walking distance. Lots of single professionals living in these areas and a great night life. Both areas would meet your requirement for the 25 min drive to Willowbrook Mall (assuming non-rush hour traffic times).

I 100% agree with all the neighborhoods the others have listed. I lived in Houston for 6 years during my 20s and those are your best bets -- close to the action, lots of character, and relatively safe. However, you mention you need to live near Willowbrook -the problem is Willowbrook is a 30-minute drive from all those cool neighborhoods inside the loop. Willowbrook does have some nice neighborhoods nearby - esp Vintage Park, Champions, and Jersey Village - but they are much more family oriented and the dining/restaurants are not great. If you do decide to live on that side of town, I can't recommend Raveneaux Luxury Apartment Residences highly enough.

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Debbie thank you for pointing that out! I decided on Vintage Park. Suburbia here I come! But at least I'll be near work for my first year. That's why I'm moving in the first place - to promote my career. I appreciate all the recommendations and maybe after year 1 I'll venture out. Does that make me lame?
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That is exactly what I did, so I can completely relate! I lived right near the Vintage Park for six years and drove into town on the weekends for food/shopping/bars. It is cheaper to live up there, as well as pretty, clean, and safe. And living near work will make it so worth it. Enjoy Houston! We just moved away and really miss it.
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My top 3 recommendations are the Heights, Rice Military and Midtown. Heights is more of a neighborhood with small houses and townhomes. If you are going to live in Midtown or Montrose it will probably be in an apartment/condo.

Good Luck!

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Awesome recommendations, Kenneth! Great to hear from a local! By the way, I'm a community manager here and I've helped you highlight the places in your answer on a map! In the future, you can do this yourself as you answer a question by simply typing the @-symbol followed by the name of the place. Take a look at your map next to your answer :)
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Firstly, if you want to live in or near an area frequented by young people, you're going to have to be "inside the loop," meaning with in the 610 loop around Houston. This is probably going to prevent you from being 25 minutes from the Willowbrook Mall during any hours with traffic (7am-9am, 3pm-6:30pm on a good day).

If you're willing to fight that, though, here are your best places to live in Houston for your criteria:

Plenty of Restaurants and Bars:

Washington Corridor along Washington Ave. The center of this would be around the intersection of Heights and Washington. There's no heavy concentration of bars or clubs in Houston where you'd be able to "bar hop" like you would on 6th Street in Austin, but this is the closest you can get to that experience.

Also good is West University Place, where there are lots of students but also young professionals and some good bars and music venues along Morningside Dr. There's also a nice running trail around Rice.

East Downtown, or "EaDo," near the BBVA Compass Stadium has a budding nightlife scene, some good places to eat, but no good grocery stores or anything practical.

Running Trails

Bayou Park just went through a huge expansion and renovation, and is a fantastic park. If you run the full loop from downtown to Shepherd it is about 5 miles. Also close to downtown and the Washington Corridor nightlife.

Washington Ave./ Memorial Park is always a favorite. There is a 3 mile loop and a fair amount of wooded trails good for mountain bikers. Again, this is close to the Washington area.

General Areas of Young Populations

Houston Heights has exploded in the past 5 years, as have costs and property values. Very cool feel and lots of "local" joints. Different areas have different feels, but all are attracting the young professional demographic.

I would say the closer you are to Willowbrook the better. There are a few bar and restaurants within the mall area and some further on down 1960. Houston is very spread out so a 25 minute drive may not get you as far as you'd like.